I wake up to the sound of birds outside our room. No noise from trains or cars, just nature. I wrap myself in a blanket and sit outside on the porch, watching the day wake up. I love how quiet and peaceful it is.

This is our first day here, so we head down the road to the town center to check out the options for breakfast. We find ourselves in The Snuggery. A retro cafe with funky 70’s vibes, cheese graters for light shades and lots of indoor plants. It’s so cosy and inviting. I think this place will be a favourite of mine. The food is good too. Daniel has cheese rolls and I have a cheese scone and lemon, honey & ginger drink. We stay here for a while, chatting and eating. It’s a lovely slow start to the morning.

With our tummy’s full from breakfast we make our way a little further down the street to Stewart Island Electric Bikes. We are planning to explore the island by E-bike this morning and have perfect weather. We have them for 2 hours and have a couple of places we want to visit. We begin by heading East towards Ackers Stone Cottage. We pedal alongside gorgeous bays. Before arriving on Rakiura, I had pictured wild, rugged coastlines, and some of it is, but I had never envisioned beautifully pristine, golden sandy bays. But there are, we cycle past many, each one as beautiful as the next.

When we get to the end of the road, we leave the bikes and do a short walk through a forest. We come to a clearing and there we see Ackers Cottage. Lewis Ackers built the cottage himself in the first half of the 19th century and lived there with his wife and 9 children! I can’t even imagine how they could all fit!

Perched up on a small hill, it has spectacular views overlooking a picture perfect, golden sandy bay. It’s so idyllic. What a place to live! The water is clear and so inviting. Why didn’t I pack my swimsuit?

After romanticising briefly about what it would be like to live here, we head back to the bikes and cycle in the other direction towards Horseshoe Bay. Even on an e-bike, I am quite slow. Especially when there are hills. I ride cautiously and take my time. Daniel is much more confident and tends to leave me behind, pausing every now and again so that I can catch up. This results in a communication breakdown and I end up cycling up a very, very, steep hill to Observation Rock, with no sign of Daniel in sight. I am super puffed from that cycle so I take a few moments to enjoy the fantastic views. It’s pretty amazing. It was a hard detour, but a good one. Apparently this is a good place for watching sunsets and Aurora hunting, but I don’t fancy walking up here in the dark, or anytime really, it’s way too steep!

Fortunately there is cell phone reception up there so Daniel and I are able to locate each other and I carry on my journey towards him. He is way over the other side of the island by Butterfields Beach. It takes me a while to get there and I arrive sweating, huffing and puffing. Rakiura sure does have a lot of hills! But it’s another spectacular beach and it makes it all worth it. I take a little walk along the beach, again wishing that I had packed my swimsuit.

After cycling up and over yet another hill, we arrive at Horseshoe Bay. I saw this place from the air yesterday and can understand why it has this name.

The road ends and we take the e-bikes along a walking track. We were told we could take them up to a certain point which is marked and would then have to walk the rest of the distance to the look out. It’s not difficult terrain, but I am not confident and find it rather challenging to navigate over all the rocks and tree roots. I’m nervous, but I do it. The very last part is incredibly steep and I don’t hit it with enough momentum. I am using all my strength to cycle but I’m barley moving. I start shouting oh no, oh no, oh no, as I wobble and nearly fall over. Somehow I manage to stay upright and make it to the top.

After a short walk we make it to Horseshoe Point Lookout and are rewarded with more great views, this time out over Foveaux Strait.

We can’t stay long as we need to get back to return the bikes so I soak up the views and walk back to the bike where the very steep hill is waiting for me to ride down. I consider just walking the bike down but decide to face my fear and cycle. I manage to do it without falling off. Proud moment!

We return the bikes, pretty exhausted, and decide to find somewhere for lunch. I have a delicious toasted sandwich and juice. Just what I need to restore my energy. It was a really active morning and I am feeling pretty worn out. Daniel has poached eggs for lunch but then decides he needs a second lunch so we head to the Kai Kart so he can have some fish & chips. We sit in the lovely sunshine and rest for a while.

This afternoon we are going kayaking.